Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1887-03-10
DAKOTA IN WINTER.
THE HOUSES KEPT TOO WARM
DURING THE COOL SEASON.
John ii. Beadle Tells a Number of the
characteristics of the Country and Its
Inhabitants-How Land is Taken Up.
The New Claim Method.
Especial Correspondence. I


Huron, d. T., Feb. 15-I have one fault
to find with the living here-they keep theil
houses too warm. In the far south my stand
ing complaint was that the houses were toe
cold In south Georgia and Florida l never
could keep warm indoors in cold weather
unless went to bed, but I could 90 out and
walk myself warm any ordinary winter day.
Here well built house has double
windows, and the stove takes up
as much room as piano else
where; and in it the blaze dieth
not and the fire is not quenched day OF night
especially if it is a hay burner. The con-
sequence is, one has to be careful of his wraps
in going out doors; and only wonder that
coughs and colds are SO rare. If one should
go from Cuba to Canada in December, as fast
as a lightning train could take him, the doc
tors would call him a lunatic; yet we do
worse than that many times day. By steam
coils and base burners we create an artificial
climate over the whole house, then we go at
one step from Cuba to Canada, from 20 degs.
above to 10 degs. below outdoors. Good
clothing protects the body, but what of the
delicate lining of the nose and lungs! All l
can say is that have not had the sign of a
cold since l entered the territory, and there
is less catarrh than in any eastern section I
have visited l used to think it was the
thing to send invalids south in winter; I am
now satisfied that the average results are not
for the better, and perhaps, in the cruel kind
ness of nature, it is necessary to kill off the
weak and strengthen the strong. By and by,
perhaps, civilization will reach point where
all weaklings will voluntarily give up and
die for the benefit of the race; but have per-
sonal reasons for being glad that it will not
be SO in my time.
Despite the cold, immigrants are pouring
into this country as if it were a section of
Eden. The record of the Huron land Office is
amazing. In the four years since it was
established there have been located and filed
on 13, ,15l -emptions, L, ,9i4 homesteads and
S,37S tree claims, total of So, AS quarter sec
tions and nearly as many families, besides the
rapidly growing towns. For three months
the Chicago and Northwestern road brought
six coaches full of immigrants daily, besides
a much larger number who came on freight
trains with their household stuff. 1t is
claimed that in one season that road brought
here $4,000 immigrants and prospectors. For
one year two land offices of Dakota did more
business than all those in the other territories
and all the far west states except Kansas and
Nebraska. 1t was the great invasion of CEN
trail Dakota-a crush" not equa ed probably
in the most exciting days of California or
Pixies Peak. For while vast tracts were
taken as fast as they could be surveyed: and
then whole townships were occupied by
squatters in advance of the survey. they de-
Gliding disputed claims by lot and agreeing to
stand by each other for legal location. One
township fifty miles away was taken in
body by IA squatters, one for each quarter
section; and when the survey was completed
they marched in as battalion and filed. 1t
is scarcely necessary to add that no later
comers interfered with them.
Beadle county, of which Huron is the cap
ital, is seven townships long and five wide,
thus containing 1,260 square miles; SO the
land settled in this one district in four years
is equivalent to seven counties like this, or
about eighteen Of the average in Indiana.
From here to the Missouri river all the good
land at all convenient to the railroad is taken;
but northwest there is much fine land yet
vacant, especially in Faulk county. A
branch railroad from Redfeld, on the
Chicago and Northwestern road, is going
through that county early in the
spring. OF course, every intending i'm
migrant knows all about the pre-emption and
homestead laws, but the true claim method
is not SO well known. To get 160 acres by
pre-emption costs S202 in payment and fees;
to get a homestead, is SIS in fees;
to get a true claim the same as
homestead, with longer time and
more work, but man has a small fortune
when he gets it, You must first file as for a
homestead and break five acres of sod the first
year. The second year cultivate that five
acres and break another; the third year.
plant the first five in timber, cultivate the
second five and break a third, and the fourth
year plant the second five; then you have
filled the requirements of the law. You can
plant either by seeds or cuttings; and must
plow among the young trees enough to keep
weeds and grass down till the trees get large
enough to shade the ground. You can make
final proof and get Uncle SANS warranty
deed at the end Of eight years, or any time
before the end Of fourteen years; and until
you do, your land is exempt from all taxes!
This item alone will more than repay the cost
of planting, and ten acres of timber is as lit
tie as man should plant anyhow,
even if he takes homestead or pre-emption.
Nv first impression was that this country
WAS IlOHObOHOuSly leNeis Dup ehio ID eiii III euo
eye. As a matter OF fact, the James river
runs in a trough from near Mime Wakau to
Vermilion on the Missouri; and though the
sides of the trough rise very gradually, they
rise high. For instance, this city is only ,290
feet above tide, or 6S5 feet above Chicago;
but westward the country rises 600 feet in
sixty miles, and eastward but little less.
The summit of the divide east of here is 500
feet higher than this, while the water level OF
the Missouri, at Pierre, is 100 feet higher
than the town plot of Huron. Of course the
Missouri has to get down hill very rapidly to
make the descent from there to Vermllion,
where the James joins it; yet the James has
a fall of but one foot in five miles Of its
course. 1t might be made canal through
its whole length if it were not SO discourag-
ingly crooked Its crooks are all within
narrow range, however, confined to the i'm
mediate valley and between that and the first
level of the through" there is considerable
bluff. The SUBMITS Of the dividing ridges,
both east and west Of here, are called cou-
teaus, which may be freely translated back
bones
The geology is peculiar, and the paleontol-
ogv would set Cuvier wild. They have found
SO many curious things that one need not be
at all surprised if they find petrified ele-
phant! But / have observed that amateur
reologists. as a rule, are given to finding
things The big pile of petriications they ex-
hibit here is certainly curious; but will wait
till I get farther north before deciding
whether this region was raised above
tba cretaceous ocean 100000 or on